Yesterday I complained that Erich von Däniken (hereafter EVD) has devoted too few resources to providing his ideas. I should have kept my mouth shut. I learned today that Ancient Aliens regular Brien Foerster is asking for donations to test a chunk of Puma Punku’s monumental stones that he claims to have smuggled out of Bolivia and intends to illegally export from Peru in order to prove the stones were quarried 12,000 years ago or more. If we take him at his word, he claims to have removed a piece of the monument, which either involves physically damaging a stone or, more likely, picking up a broken piece from the ground. According to the Bolivian Penal Code article 331, the intentional removal of an antiquity from Bolivia without government approval is subject to one to five years in prison.

Sadly, nearly 1,300 antiquities have been illegally removed from Bolivia over the past fifteen years, according to the Bolivian Ministry of Culture. The country does not have the money or the manpower to adequately protect Tiwanaku and Puma Punku, where most looting occurs. Because many stolen pieces are fenced through Peru, the Bolivian government has pressured the Peruvian government to cooperate with Bolivia in combatting the illegal antiquities trade and returning Tiwanaku and Wari artifacts to Bolivia. I guess we should be thankful EVD sticks to making fake antiquities for his theme parks. As we pick up with Remnants of the Gods, the second chapter opens with “Crazy Ideas.” I’m not sure how that differs from the rest of the book. EVD starts by relating an idea of the German artist Karl Bedal that many Stone Age centers were located either 13.5 or 27 km from one another, an almost identical distance to the roughly 29 km Graham Robb found separated Celtic settlements in his recent book The Discovery of Middle Earth (2013). As I pointed out in my review of Robb’s claims, this is the average distance a merchant or soldier could walk in a day, suggesting an entirely practical reason for the separation by half-day and whole-day walks. Next, EVD introduces us to Xavier Guichard, who like Robb, also played connect-the-dots on a flat Mercator-projection map. In 1936 he made “amazing” discoveries that various sets of cities could be connected with a straight line (within a reasonable tolerance), a virtual certainty in a continent as densely populated as Europe. Also like Robb, Guichard chose a single, recurring place name—Aleisa (varying from Calais to L’Allex to Cales)—to use as his data point for the connections, returning results identical to Robb’s for the place name Mediolanum, which seems to prove either a global, Mercator-projection grid undergirding every ancient site or that a common enough name is bound to produce some “hits” through coincidence. Guichard also, like Robb, attributed the alignments to solar observations, though unlike Robb he incorrectly assumed Aleisa was identical etymologically with Eleusis and thus ancient earth magic. Odd that Robb seems unaware of his predecessor’s work (Guichard isn’t mentioned in the index). Perhaps the fact that Guichard’s claims contradict Robb’s own is behind it: Guichard attributed the grid to the “first” European civilization, before the Celts—all the way back to the Neolithic! Worse, while his grid is identical in construction to Robb’s, it connects completely different points along a slightly different set of measurements! If I didn’t know better, I’d think Robb simply stole the idea from Guichard and made it Celtic, so I guess I have to thank EVD for introducing me to this bizarre episode in fringe speculation. There are no new ideas, apparently. EVD does Guichard one better and suggests that the EU adopted Beethoven’s Ode to Joy as its anthem because the lyrics reference Elysium and thus the ancient aliens’ cult of immortality. He then discusses more lines on maps, drawing triangles over Italy and Greece to connect various sites, and EVD asserts that the “establishment” refuses to answer his questions about how and why Greek cities were aligned along a grid made up of triangles. I’m not sure it’s worth dignifying this one since the apparently 1980s- or 1990s-era documentary screen grabs used to illustrate the triangles show that they are not regular, and they do not exactly align with the facts on the ground. It’s more “connect the dots.” Ditto for the “golden ratio” circles drawn over the same sites, which also fail to actually connect the dots. EVD disagrees:

The clever academics of our day adhere to the principle of “simple probability,” the “most obvious solutions.” This principle prohibits them from any other way of thinking. They cannot escape from their thought prison, because with the “most obvious solution,” the problem has been dealt with. What else is there to investigate? This method, even if it is declared to be infallible by science, only provides half-answers for any but the most superficial problems.

If I had to guess, it seems EVD is confusing Occam’s Razor, a tool for evaluating the likelihood of arguments, for the scientific method, which is not related. He then tries to make a confused argument about “pre-Greek” sites in Greece, but he cites only scholars who advanced arguments before the discovery of Mycenaean civilization, so I wasn’t able to follow his claims, based as they were on intentional ignorance. He discusses more sacred geometry claims and then relates them to the Piri Reis map, which he still claims shows the coastline of Antarctica despite this having been debunked only hundreds of times since he first made the claim in 1968. He decides that he can remain ignorant of science’s conclusions because of the work of the Austrian philosopher Paul Feyerabend, who became famous for rejecting the scientific method in favor of methodological anarchism. It certainly fits EVD’s style. He then asks who surveyed the earth and attributes it to Oannes and other alien gods. He cites the Kebra Nagast as proof of flying chariots, and here it’s a doozy: Not only does he continue to cite the same mistranslated text he first botched in 1981’s Signs of the Gods (which I discussed in my YouTube video below), but he misremembers the mistranslation and falsely attributes the events to Solomon instead of David!

He concludes the chapter by “proving” the existence of aliens with reference to Leslie Kean’s collection of evidence-free hearsay, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Break Their Silence. He laments that the U.S. and Britain have closed their UFO offices and gives the “real” reason for it:

It is, plain and simple, the recognition that we human beings cannot do anything about it; an admission of our total impotence with regard to the UFO phenomenon. What is there to tell the public? You are all under surveillance? We are the inhabitants of a global zoo and totally impotent against our keepers?

EVD attributes the claim that earth is a zoo run by space aliens to James Deardorff, a UFO proponent who believes he knows the truth about the real history of Jesus, which, of course, is in India, based on the 1890s-era hoax, TheLife of St. Issa. The so-called “zoo hypothesis” is older than Deardorff and is a staple of science fiction. The Twilight Zone, for example, did a couple of variations on the theme. [Update: Thanks to Brett Holman (@Airminded) on Twitter, I am reminded that Charles Fort made the claim in chapter 12 of Book of the Damned where he says that he thinks humanity is the property of an alien power that warns off other potential visitors.] However, EVD sees a bright side: The aliens, he said, have been working hard to prevent nuclear war because they are apparently Cold Warriors from the 1960s. He says that the aliens won’t let us pollute the earth or contaminate it with nuclear waste, which is of course why they stepped in to prevent the Fukushima meltdown. Either that or the aliens hate Japan, since they also let the U.S. drop nuclear bombs on the archipelago.Next time: EVD shares “false doctrines” that he says mask aliens behind religion!

I believe the "zoo hypothesis" was first articulated by Charles Fort in the 1920s, although, typical of Fort, it was more of a evocative line than a full-fledged hypothesis and it's unclear how seriously he took it himself.

I believe you're right, but I couldn't find the exact wording in the Book of the Damned. Maybe it was in one his other books?

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Scott Hamilton

12/10/2013 07:59:05 am

James Deardorff I ran into because he's a big believer in the crude hoaxes of Billy Meier, who he cites as proof that some alternate Talmud he claims is real. Very bizarre stuff.

I'm also wondering the nature of the Life of St. Issa hoax. Was it a hoax by the people who claimed to find it, or was it a box on them? Its supporters claim more than one people saw the original documents (which doesn't mean they weren't hoaxes themselves), but I'd be interested in what the facts are.

The Life of St. Issa was hoaxed by Nicolas Notovitch, its alleged discoverer, who admitted to the hoax after academics (the horror!) pointed to problems that questioned the text's integrity. Also, no one was allowed to see the original and the monastery Notovitch said held it denied it, and denied ever hosting Notovitch.

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Scott Hamilton

12/10/2013 09:29:26 am

It's interesting, because when you first mentioned it a couple weeks ago I looked it up and the believer sites have a *completely* different story, including the idea that the monastery showed the documents to two different neutral scholars. Not that I doubt your version, but it isn't outside the realm of possibility that a town in Asia could decide to embrace a highly controversial version of the life of Jesus -- Jesus' tomb in Shingo, Japan comes immediately to mind.

I often wonder if anything can be thoroughly discredited enough to be dropped from the paranormal literature. I was listening to The Bigfoot Show podcast today, and they were complaining that the Oxford/Sykes study made a big deal about Zana, saying it has long been known she was 100% modern human and so it was "set-up" to make Bigfoot believers look silly. Yet I can point to recent books and web posts by such luminaries in the cryptozoology field as Jeff Meldrum, Loren Coleman, Dale Drinnon and Igor Bourtsev that have all promoted Zana as a possible relic hominid to some degree or another. The latter two still are, even after the DNA results! So how much evidence will make these people give up their beliefs?

Weirdly enough, both Hindu and Islamic groups in India have embraced the "Life of St. Issa" and have elaborated on the story, even though it's a known hoax. There's even a whole book about it: H. Louis Fader, The Issa Tale That Will Not Die: Nicholas Notovich and His Fraudulent Gospel (University Press of America, 2003).

Scott Hamilton

12/11/2013 04:43:53 am

Cool, that sounds interesting. I'll see if I can find it.

Titus pulo

12/10/2013 10:20:25 am

Will Scott Wolter test the rock?

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Ancient One

12/10/2013 05:00:18 pm

The majority of New Testament scholars have embraced and accepted the annals of Tacitus as authentic, even though no-one in antiquity ever mentioned that work, even though it only exists in parts and first surfaced during the 15th century and there is the obvious glaring mistake where Pilate is described as a Procurator (he was a Prefect). It is, after all, highly convenient to have a Roman Source corroborating the New Testament account of the Crucifixion.

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Pacal

12/11/2013 02:58:07 pm

The vast majority, in fact I am aware of no exceptions, of Classicalists have accepted the Annals of Tacitus as authentic. Aside from the fact that Tacitus' references to Christians aren't remotely flattering and in fact insulting. There is the fact that the text in places has been authenticated by archaeological finds. Perhaps the most important being a speech by the Emperor Claudius found in both inscription and in the Annals. The onus is on those who dispute the authenticity of the Annals to show that. I note that no one seems to seriously dispute the authenticity of Tacitus' other works, The Histories or Agricola and Germania. I note that forgers are hardly likely if they are concocting fake histories to concoct, especially at that time, fragmentary histories.

Errors in Tacitus prove nothing about the authenticity of the History he wrote.

Mandalore

12/11/2013 05:38:37 pm

Tacitus is referenced and written to in the letters of Pliny the Younger, along with Suetonius, Silius Italicus, and other Silver Age Latin writers. Who questions his authenticity?

Clint Knapp

12/10/2013 10:57:41 am

So, in a partial review of another self-plagiarized book by a lying embezzler we also get a side story about a shockingly honest thief seeking assistance in his international crime. Amazing.

At this point in his career, EVD's become so irrelevant I can't even be bothered to be outraged by his nonsense anymore, but Foerster needs to be stopped. Unless he's making it all up, he's publicly announcing a crime in progress and attempting to make accomplices out of anyone who gives him money. And some people are going to call this heroic, and if he manages to pull it off the show will profit from it even further. It's just sickening.

It's one thing to constantly decry academia, but this is promoting actual crime.

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Only Human

12/10/2013 11:26:52 am

They have been plundering and looting sites since time had a history. This is nothing new that EVD did it.

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Clint Knapp

12/10/2013 04:53:37 pm

Oh, there's no denying that, though it was Foerster, not EVD. Looting has happened since there have been things to loot. It's the blatant advertising and soliciting for funding to aid this criminal act that makes it a particularly disturbing endeavor.

These aren't black market tomb robbers operating in a generally anonymous manner, or even unscrupulous academics sneaking something away under cover. These guys are proclaiming their deed in progress and asking you to foot the bill. They've created their own documentation of the crime for the world to see. I hope someone with a modicum of authority to do something about it does.

Stephen JC

12/10/2013 12:08:41 pm

Not that I'm defending him, but why waste time on reviewing his books at all? He is a school drop out, a hotel manager and has been in prison several times!!

That gets to the beating heart of the fringe movement: No qualified experts review this stuff because they consider the practitioners idiots and frauds and the ideas too obviously false and stupid to refute, so it goes unchallenged among thousands and (sadly) sometimes millions of readers and viewers, many of whom take it more seriously than any of us care to believe possible.

Every time I string together the keywords of title, author, and weird claim, someone, somewhere Googling it finds it and learns something that might otherwise have passed unchallenged.

Frankly, organized skeptics could do with more of this service-oriented skepticism and fewer turgid treatises on the epistemology of skeptical inquiry if they want to reach the public at large.

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Stephen JC

12/10/2013 01:03:35 pm

Yeah, I know what you mean. I just think it would tend to draw more people to find out who he is and what he promotes and just give him more followers. Those that will believe him, anyway.

A.D.

12/10/2013 06:46:41 pm

Jason,experts are doing the public a disservice by ignoring these charlatan con men.This is leading to drastic consequences.It's very depressing.

charlie

12/11/2013 08:34:04 am

Jason,
Absolutely! These frauds need to be exposed and the experts on history, and other academic subjects like archeology MUST review crap like the AAT's and expose the frauds and tell the truth about real history etc.
The truth will help the public see what real history is and that has to be a very good thing for all of us.

Mandalore

12/10/2013 03:40:13 pm

Jason is doing a service with these reviews, as well as providing an entertaining and informative read. There are no scholars that bother with these sorts of really stupid ideas. It is a bit of a shame, perhaps, but it is what it is.

Jason, perhaps you could reach out to some historians for some contributions to your blog.

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Ancient One

12/10/2013 04:53:35 pm

Not all established scholars within the world of education are sceptics. A lot of them do what they do because it's simply their job description - and they simply fill out their exam papers during their training with whatever it takes to achieve their jobs.

Dan

12/10/2013 12:42:34 pm

I just notified Indiegogo that they are hosting the funding of Foerster's illegal project. I'll update when/if they respond.

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gdave

12/11/2013 01:49:05 am

I've emailed the lab at Perdue University where Swenson & Foerster intend to send the stones for testing. BTW, the tests they want to run involve crushing and grinding the stones, so it's not just testing of possibly illegally obtained antiquities, it's destruction of said antiquities, which as Jason notes may have been obtained by illegally defacing ancient monuments.

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Judith Bennett

2/8/2014 05:19:49 pm

Did you receive a reply from the lab? I'd hope they'd have some concerns about standards and ethics.

Mark Longden

12/11/2013 07:06:45 am

I got a reply from Indiegogo about this, and they said "possibly he's had permission from the Government". I've scoured the site and can find no evidence he's illegally smuggling the stuff out of the country - can you point me to where he's said that?

He never said he's illegally removing the material, and I doubt he would know if he were. He said he's taking it out of the country, and he did not say anything about government permits or permission.

Bolivia, as a rule, does not grant export permits for artifacts to amateurs because, under their law, they consider all antiquities to belong to Bolivia and should remain there.

To prove illegal export, though, you'd need to get Bolivia to confirm that they have not granted an export permit.

Dan

12/11/2013 07:20:07 am

He mentions on the site that he's getting the material from Peru. From a limited amount of researching online, it seems that Peru is one of the countries with an active black market in antiquities. Bolivian law forbids the removal of antiquities without a permit, so the burden really should be on him to prove that he's authorized to do this work. But that's really Indiegogo's problem, if they want to expose themselves to liability. If they say that they aren't removing the funding project, then the next email should be to Bolivian government, particularly the Department of Archaeology of Bolivia (DINAR).

Dan

12/11/2013 07:43:13 am

He's also going to have prove that he had the permission of the government to establish provenence for the validity of the study, what we refer to in the law as "chain of custody". Otherwise, he's always going to have to answer to the question of "how do we know this rock is from Puma Punku".

Judith Bennett

2/8/2014 05:18:30 pm

You did better than me then, as Indiegogo didn't reply to my email regarding this campaign.

I know for a fact that he doesn't have a permit to remove the sample from Bolivia. I emailed Dr. Alexei Vranich, an American archaeologist who works at Tiwanaku in Bolivia, and has good contacts with the Institute of Archaeology there, who informed me that permission was neither sought nor granted to take samples.

A.D.

12/10/2013 06:36:09 pm

Here is some fun info on Brien Foerster.

http://seesdifferent.wordpress.com/tag/brien-foerster/

Turns out these pseudo history frauds are running a scam.Brien's so called "geneticist" Melba Ketchum is the same "scientist" who claimed to found bigfoot DNA

He also has ties to other con men like David Childress .Graham Hancock.Lloyd Pye and Erich von Däniken...

Jason did you ever read my two emails regarding him and Martin Dutre concerning their ideas about the Nazca and Paracas?

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A.D.

12/11/2013 03:33:45 am

This Brien crook looks to be taking notes from Lloyd Pye's(Mr StarChild skull) charlatanism to take more funny from the gullible.Same crap attacking academia and being a lying fraud.

He also,in his book return of the gods,gives further detail of Enochs ascent in a rocket..but looking closely at the source,which comes across as if its the genesis apocryphal but is actually the words of some 20th century hasidic rabbi (Bin Gorion/Berdyczewski) from a book not available in English called legends of the jews..He does this a lot..uses translations not available in English..

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About Me

I'm an author and editor who has published on a range of topics, including archaeology, science, and horror fiction. There's more about me in the About Jason tab.